The words refused to leave Luca's mind.
Someone who has been beside you for years.
The sentence followed him everywhere.
Through the halls of the Moretti estate.
Through the silence of his office.
Through every memory he had tried to bury.
Someone close.
Someone trusted.
Someone who knew him.
Someone who had watched him grow from a broken child into the man everyone feared.
The possibility was more dangerous than any enemy standing outside his gates.
Because Luca knew how to fight enemies.
He knew how to destroy threats.
But betrayal?
Betrayal came from the places where he lowered his guard.
And Luca Moretti had spent his entire life learning never to lower his guard.
Except with a few people.
Isabella.
His father.
And the people he considered family.
He stood alone in his office, staring at the city beyond the glass windows.
The same city that once represented everything he had built.
Power.
Control.
Success.
Now it looked different.
Like a battlefield.
A battlefield where he didn't know who was fighting against him.
The door opened quietly.
He didn't turn.
He already knew who it was.
"You're avoiding me."
Isabella's voice was soft.
Luca closed his eyes briefly.
"I am thinking."
"No."
She walked closer.
"You're isolating yourself."
He finally looked at her.
"Is there a difference?"
"Yes."
She stopped in front of him.
"Thinking helps you find answers."
A pause.
"Isolating yourself makes you believe you have to face everything alone."
Luca looked away.
Because she was right.
Again.
It annoyed him how easily she saw through him.
Everyone else saw Luca Moretti.
The ruthless businessman.
The dangerous man.
The person who could walk into a room and make everyone silent.
Isabella saw the boy who had spent years believing he was unwanted.
"You heard what he said."
She didn't need to mention Adrian.
Luca knew.
"Yes."
"You're trying to figure out who it is."
"Yes."
"Do you have suspects?"
Silence.
That was the answer.
Isabella studied him.
"Tell me."
Luca shook his head.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because once I say them out loud, they become real."
Her expression softened.
"Luca."
He looked at her.
"What if I'm wrong?"
The question surprised her.
Not because he was afraid.
Because Luca Moretti was rarely afraid of making mistakes.
"What if I accuse someone innocent?"
A pause.
"What if I destroy someone who never betrayed me?"
Isabella stepped closer.
"That is the difference between you and him."
Luca frowned.
"Between me and Adrian?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"Adrian would destroy anyone to protect his power."
She reached for his hand.
"You are worried about hurting someone who might hurt you."
The simple truth affected him.
Because maybe that was the difference.
Maybe that was the proof that he was not his grandfather.
"You still believe I'm different."
Isabella smiled slightly.
"I don't believe."
She looked into his eyes.
"I know."
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
The tension between them was not the kind created by fear.
It was something else.
Something warmer.
Something that reminded them that before secrets and enemies, there had been them.
Luca lifted his hand and touched her face.
A gentle movement.
Almost uncertain.
A side of him nobody else ever saw.
"I hate that you make me feel this way."
Isabella's lips curved slightly.
"What way?"
"Human."
A quiet laugh escaped her.
"You say that like it's a bad thing."
"For me?"
His thumb brushed lightly against her cheek.
"Sometimes it is."
She looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because feeling means losing control."
Isabella's expression softened.
"And maybe you were never supposed to control everything."
Those words stayed with him.
Because deep down, Luca knew she was right.
For years, he had confused control with safety.
But control had never protected him.
It had only made him alone.
Before the moment could continue, a notification came from his phone.
Luca immediately stepped back.
The softness disappeared.
Isabella noticed.
She always noticed.
"What is it?"
He looked at the screen.
A message.
From an unknown number.
Only one line.
You are looking in the wrong direction.
Below it was an image.
Luca opened it.
And his expression changed.
Isabella saw the shift.
"What?"
He handed her the phone.
The picture showed a room.
A familiar room.
His father's old study.
But the image wasn't what shocked them.
It was the person standing inside.
Elena.
The woman who claimed to know the truth.
The woman who claimed she wanted to help.
The woman who had warned them about Adrian.
But the photograph showed something impossible.
Elena was not alone.
Standing beside her was another person.
Someone Luca recognized.
Someone he trusted.
Isabella looked at Luca.
"Who is that?"
His face became unreadable.
Because the person in the picture was someone he never imagined would be connected to any of this.
"My uncle."
Silence.
"Your uncle?"
Luca nodded.
"Matteo Moretti."
The name carried weight.
Because Matteo had always been different from the rest of the Moretti family.
While Luca's father had been strict and Adrian had been ruthless, Matteo had been the one person Luca remembered as kind.
The uncle who brought him gifts as a child.
The uncle who sat with him when he was lonely.
The uncle who told him that he was more than his family's name.
"No."
Isabella looked at him.
"Luca."
"No."
His voice was firm.
Almost desperate.
"Matteo wouldn't."
The reaction told Isabella everything.
This wasn't just a suspect.
This was someone Luca loved.
Someone who represented a part of his childhood that wasn't filled with fear.
And that made it worse.
Because betrayal from an enemy hurt.
But betrayal from someone who gave you comfort?
That broke something deeper.
The door suddenly opened.
One of Luca's men entered.
"Sir."
Luca looked at him.
"What?"
"We found something."
"What?"
The man hesitated.
"The person who sent the message..."
A pause.
"They are inside the estate."
The room went silent.
Luca immediately moved.
"Lock everything down."
The man nodded.
"Already done."
Isabella looked at Luca.
"Someone came here?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Luca's expression darkened.
"To show us something."
They moved through the estate quickly.
Every guard was alert.
Every hallway checked.
But whoever entered had done it perfectly.
No alarms.
No signs.
No evidence.
Until they reached the library.
The door was slightly open.
Luca stopped.
Something about it felt wrong.
Too easy.
Too obvious.
Isabella noticed.
"Trap?"
"Probably."
"But you're still going in."
He looked at her.
"You know me too well."
She gave him a small smile.
"Unfortunately."
Despite everything, he almost smiled.
Almost.
Then he entered.
The library was empty.
Except for one thing.
A book placed in the center of the table.
An old family record.
Luca approached slowly.
The cover was damaged.
The pages yellowed with age.
But he recognized it.
His grandfather's private journal.
"How did they get this?"
Nobody answered.
Because the answer was obvious.
Someone had access to things nobody else should.
Luca opened it.
The first pages were normal.
Business records.
Family history.
Names.
Then he reached a section marked with a symbol.
The same symbol from the documents they had found earlier.
He read the first line.
And his entire body went still.
The Moretti bloodline must continue through controlled alliances.
Isabella stepped closer.
"What?"
Luca turned the page.
The next words were worse.
The union between Luca Moretti and Isabella Voss was identified as a possibility twenty-two years ago.
The room became silent.
Isabella stared.
"What?"
Luca continued reading.
His hands were shaking slightly.
Not from fear.
From anger.
Because now he understood.
Their connection.
Their families.
Their history.
Someone had been watching.
Someone had been waiting.
The next page contained a photograph.
A photograph of Luca and Isabella as children.
Together.
At an event neither of them remembered.
And beneath it were five words.
The desire was predicted.
Isabella stepped back.
"No."
Luca looked at her.
For the first time, he saw fear in her eyes.
Not fear of danger.
Fear that something beautiful between them had never truly been theirs.
That it had been planned.
Manipulated.
Controlled.
Luca immediately reached for her.
"Isabella."
She looked at him.
"What if this was never our choice?"
The question broke something inside him.
Because it was the same fear he had carried.
What if their love was just another part of someone else's game?
Luca held her hand tightly.
"Look at me."
She did.
"I don't know who planned this."
A pause.
"I don't know why."
Another pause.
"But I know one thing."
His voice became firm.
"They don't get to decide what I feel."
Her eyes filled slightly.
"They don't get to decide what we are."
For a moment, the world disappeared.
The secrets.
The empire.
The enemies.
Everything.
There was only them.
But somewhere outside the library, hidden in the darkness of the estate, someone watched through a security feed.
A figure smiled.
Because Luca had finally discovered the truth.
But the truth was exactly what they wanted him to find.
And the next move would not be about revealing secrets.
It would be about destroying the one thing Luca Moretti could never protect.
His heart.